Nutrition Refresher

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Hello and Happy Saturday.

It appears to have been a while since I last wrote in depth about nutrition. On Thursday I addressed a topic with opinion and subjective (positive) results. But today I’ll be addressing a topic with objective fact. Unfortunately many get emotionally attached to today’s topic and ignore all logical reason. The tweets I shared on instagram are case in point. The comments on them were even worse.

In 2024 the level of both delusion and lack of education around something so simple is frightening. Today’s topic is nutrition and weight management.

But first, some context for why this was kicked off. Be warned: twitter drama.

The above tweet by Aaron Sibarium brings up a wild report if true. Now, I take things with a grain of salt from both sides of the political spectrum, and Matt Walsh is a known right-leaning commentator. But this topic is a bit more neutral - or so I thought.

There’s a lot to unpack here. First - in what world is it ok for a university to claim weight loss is hopeless? That seems to be a highly emotional response to a well-understood phenomenon in human physiology. In a turn of events no is shocked to see, higher education is taking a non-political and highly rooted in science topic and making it political and emotional. So, we know the root of this twitter debacle. Matt Walsh then swoops in with an apparently insane statement: eat less, exercise more, and you will lose weight. What a crazy thing to say in 2024!

But wait! There’s more.

The carnivores are coming to rescue us from our insanity.

This quote tweet was met with 1.2M views and an immense amount of support. Now, the first note is it is highly respectable that she was able to lose 100 pounds and keep it off. There’s no debating the work Roxana did. But, the reason why she lost the weight is what needs disputing.

She claims that eating less and exercising more is not a good strategy for weight loss as you will just get hungrier. That’s a good point! Of course, moving more may result in a higher appetite and counter your efforts at weight loss.

She then follows up by saying eating real food, mostly meat, is the solution to our weight management problems. Again, that’s a good point. If you eat high amounts of protein via meat and whole foods, you will likely lose weight.

But, what is the reason for the weight loss? Is it not a result of eating fewer calories than the amount we burned? Is this argument not actually a supporting bullet point for what Matt Walsh is saying?

Without knowing it, Roxana confirms Matt’s thesis.

So let’s talk about why that is.

Weight loss essentially occurs when you expend more energy (calories) than you consume, leading to a calorie deficit.

1. Caloric Deficit

• Energy In vs. Energy Out: To lose weight, you must consume fewer calories than you burn. Calories are the energy in food, and this energy is expended through basic bodily functions (basal metabolic rate), physical activity, and processing food (diet-induced thermogenesis).

  • Side note: A Calorie, with a capital "C", is a unit of energy that is used to measure the energy content of food. Technically, a Calorie (kilocalorie) equals 1,000 calories (with a lowercase "c"), where a calorie is defined as the amount of heat energy needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius at a pressure of one atmosphere. In dietary terms:

    • 1 Calorie (kilocalorie) = 1,000 calories = 4.184 kilojoules.

    • Food Calories: The Calories listed on food labels indicate how much energy the body can potentially gain from consuming them.

• Creating a Deficit: You can create this deficit by eating less, increasing physical activity, or a combination of both.

2. Metabolic Processes

• Fat Metabolism: When in a calorie deficit, your body turns to stored fat for energy. The process involves breaking down fat cells to release triglycerides, which are then converted into usable energy.

• Muscle Metabolism: Sometimes, muscle can also be used for energy, especially if the diet is significantly low in calories or deficient in crucial nutrients like protein.

3. Where Does the Lost Weight Go?

• Conversion to Energy: The body converts the components of fat (carbon, hydrogen, oxygen) into energy, releasing carbon dioxide and water as byproducts.

• Exhalation of Carbon Dioxide: Most of the weight lost is actually breathed out as carbon dioxide. A smaller portion is lost as water, either through urine, sweat, or other bodily fluids.

• Energy Utilization: The energy released from fat and muscle during weight loss is used to power bodily functions and physical activities.

4. Factors Affecting Weight Loss

• Metabolic Rate: Individuals with a higher metabolic rate can burn more calories at rest.

• Hormonal Factors: Hormones like insulin, cortisol, and thyroid hormones can influence how your body stores fat and metabolizes nutrients.

• Lifestyle and Behavior: Diet quality, physical activity levels, sleep, and stress management all play critical roles in the effectiveness of weight loss efforts.

This essentially describes the “how” in the process in weight loss. But what about the “why”?

For that, we return to middle school science class. Yes, this is literally a 7th grade concept that adults, with access to all the knowledge of humankind (the internet), still manage to get wrong.

Human weight loss from the perspective of thermodynamics is fundamentally about energy balance. Thermodynamics is the study of energy and its transformations, and it can be applied to biological systems, including the human body. Here’s how it works:

1. Energy Input and Output: The first law of thermodynamics states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed. For humans, this principle applies to the energy we consume and expend. The energy we consume comes from the food we eat, and the energy we expend is used in various bodily functions and physical activities.

2. Calories as Energy Units: In terms of diet and weight loss, energy is measured in calories (as defined above).

3. Energy Storage: If you consume more energy (calories) than you expend, the excess energy is stored in the body, primarily as fat. Fat is an efficient way to store energy (it’s a feature not a bug in humans!), with each gram of fat storing about 9 calories, compared to 4 calories per gram for carbohydrates and proteins.

4. Energy Deficit and Weight Loss: To lose weight, you need to create an energy deficit, meaning you need to consume fewer calories than you burn. When there is an energy deficit, the body compensates by using stored energy, primarily from fat, but also from muscle tissue if the deficit is significant and prolonged.

5. Metabolic Rate: The rate at which your body uses energy (caloric expenditure) is influenced by several factors, including your basal metabolic rate (BMR), which is the amount of energy your body needs to perform basic life-sustaining functions like breathing, circulation, and cell production. Physical activity and the thermic effect of food (energy used for digestion) also contribute to your total energy expenditure.

6. Efficiency and Adaptation: The human body can adapt to different levels of caloric intake and adjust its energy expenditure accordingly. For example, if you suddenly decrease your caloric intake, your body might reduce its metabolic rate as a survival mechanism, which can slow down weight loss. This is a key point to understand in how steep you want your deficit to be. Cut too much, too fast and you may stagnate in weight loss.

7. Practical Application: To effectively lose weight, it’s typically recommended to combine a moderate reduction in caloric intake with an increase in physical activity. This approach helps create a sustainable energy deficit without triggering a significant metabolic slowdown. An excellent source to get a quick TDEE calculation here.

Overall, weight loss through the lens of thermodynamics is about managing the balance between energy intake and energy expenditure, ensuring that the energy output exceeds the energy input over a sustained period.

Cool. We now know the how and the why of weight loss. So what do we do next? It’s quite simple. If you want to lose weight, enter into a slight deficit than your total daily energy expenditure. I go in depth on TDEE in my article here.

What is the best way to enter into a deficit? For that, we return to Roxana’s original claim - eating real foods, mostly meat. This is a common method used by “keto” enthusiasts. I put quotes around it because rarely are these individuals actually in ketosis. True ketosis is optimally in a range of 1.5 to 3.0 mmol/L beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), as measured by a blood ketone meter. More often, they claim they are keto by restricting carb intake without actually measuring their blood. Regardless, what’s really happening is these individuals are using a pattern of eating to enter into a deficit. If you remove all carbs from your diet, chances are you will eat fewer Calories than you burn.

But, as proven in the literature, it doesn’t matter what method you use to enter into a deficit.

Optimal Diet Strategies for Weight Loss and Weight Loss Maintenance (Kim, 2021) is one of my favorite papers ever.

The key takeaway being:

There is no single best strategy for weight management, although some evidence-based methods have been suggested (Table 1). Reducing daily calorie intake is the most important factor for weight loss. Low-calorie recipes, especially those for low-fat or low-carbohydrate diets, have been suggested as the first dietary strategy, although in some cases, a VLCD is required for a short period. Except for energy deficit, there seems to be no significant difference between macronutrient composition-based diets.

The study compared intermittent fasting, meal timing strategies, vegetarian, nordic, low glycemic index, Paleolithic, Mediterranean, High-Protein, Ketogenic, Low-Carb, and Low-Fat diets. Regardless of diet type, the study identified the only key factor being reducing your daily caloric intake.

It really is that simple. I try to see the other side’s case on topics like this. But because I’m able to read and think critically it is nearly impossible to bend to their delusion. Unfortunately, because there is so much emotional connection, some will never see the truth. But all that really matters is everyone is able to live a healthy life at a healthy body weight. So if one more person is able to lose weight using their (illogical) guidance, so be it. But I will continue to enjoy my carbs and stay below 10% body fat (which is far lower than most keto influencers lol), all while performing significantly better (because carbs are great).

Regardless, I hope you enjoyed this breakdown and refresher on nutrition and weight management. Have a great Saturday.

Cheers.

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DISCLAIMER

This is not Legal, Medical, or Financial advice. Please consult a medical professional before starting any workout program, diet plan, or supplement protocol.